1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for processing a silver halide color reversal photographic light-sensitive material and, more particularly, to improvements in the composition of a color reversal developer and a low-replenishment processing method using the developer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the basic steps of processing of a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material are a color development step and a desilvering step. In the color development step, a silver halide exposed by a color developing agent is reduced to produce silver, and the oxidized color developing agent reacts with a coloring agent (coupler) to form a dye image. Common silver halide color photographic light-sensitive materials are subjected to the color development step after being imagewise-exposed. However, silver halide color reversal photographic light-sensitive materials after being imagewise-exposed are subjected to the color development step after black-and-white development and reversal steps. In the subsequent desilvering step, the silver produced in the color development step is oxidized by an action of an oxidizer, a so-called bleaching agent. The oxidized silver is then dissolved by an agent, a so-called fixing agent, which forms complex ion of silver ion. Through this desilvering step, only a dye image is formed in the color light-sensitive material. Thus the desilvering step generally consists of the bleaching step and the fixing step. In the case of a bleach-fixing step in which the bleaching and fixing steps are done in a single bath, the bleach-fixing step is performed after the bleaching step or between the bleaching step and the fixing step.
The resultant light-sensitive material in which the dye image is formed is processed with a stabilizer after the desilvering process for the storage properties of the obtained dye image. The processing using the stabilizer is performed after a washing step or immediately after the desilvering. In the processing of color reversal light-sensitive materials, there is a known method which stabilizes a dye image by adding an image stabilizing agent to a control solution, instead of using the stabilizer in the final bath.
It is determined that disposal of waste solutions of photographic processing in the sea will be inhibited from 1996. Accordingly, reducing the waste solutions of photographic processing is being eagerly desired. In particular, compared to a black-and-white developer the processing steps of color development are complicated, so the waste solutions of photographic processing are concentrically treated in the color development, and the amount of the waste solutions also is large in the processing. Therefore, reducing the waste solutions of the color photographic processing is being earnestly desired. Of the color processing, the processing steps of color paper or color negative film processing are relatively simple, and the number of baths is small and the processing function is simple in color reversal paper processing. Accordingly, techniques of low replenishment have been developed and low-replenishment formulations have been sequentially proposed for these processes. Consequently, a total waste processing solution per processing of 1 m.sup.2 of a light-sensitive material is recently reduced to 100 ml for color paper, 900 ml for color reversal paper, and nearly 3000 ml for color negative films.
On the other hand, approximately 9 l/m.sup.2 are still replenished in development of color reversal films in which the processing steps are complicated and the number of processing baths is large. This amount of waste solutions is three times, ten times, and ninety times as large as those for color negative films, color reversal paper, and color paper, respectively. Accordingly, it is of urgent necessity to decrease the number of processing steps or reduce the replenishment of each processing solution in the development of color reversal films.
Additionally, the development of color reversal films involves a special color development step in which 70 to 90% of silver coated on a light-sensitive material are averagely developed in the first development and almost all the residual silver is developed by chemically fogging the remaining 10 to 30% of the silver halide, thereby performing color development.
This color development (called color reversal development), therefore, is required to have an entirely different function from that of the conventional color development, and is development entirely different from simple black-and-white development.
That is, this color developer (color reversal developer) contains a non-dye-forming competing coupler to control the photographic gradation. That is, the oxidized form of a developing agent, which forms when the developing agent reduces a silver halide, reacts with a coupler in a light-sensitive material, and this reaction is partially taken by a non-dye-forming coupler by competition. This adjusts the gradation of color photographs. This color developer also contains a fogging agent for silver halide emulsions of thioethers. The color reversal development having this complicated mechanism has not been changed to date in both the formulation and the quantity of replenisher since it was introduced into the market in 1976.
This complicated color reversal developer is made from a phosphoric acid buffer solution because of its special effect. In Japan, especially in the closed seas and lakes (e.g., the Inland Sea of Japan, the Kasumigaura, and the Lake of Biwa), the regulations on phosphorus have been made more rigorous from the point of view of nourishment. When an activation sludge treatment is performed for the waste solutions of photographic processing, phosphorus is not completely treated and flows into these closed seas or lakes.
Furthermore, in silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials (to be referred to as light-sensitive materials hereinafter), it is almost not possible to input or output various information during photographing or printing; i.e., only the date of photographing can be optically input/output. However, as recently disclosed in JP-A-4-68336 ("JP-A" means Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application), JP-A-4-73737, or JP-A-5-88283, by forming a transparent magnetic recording layer on the entire surface of a light-sensitive material it has become possible to input, on light-sensitive materials, the date of photographing, the conditions of photographing such as weather and a reduction/extension ratio, the number of extra prints, a portion to be zoomed, a message, and the conditions of development and printing. Also, it has become possible to input various information to image apparatuses such as television/video recorders. Therefore, a demand has arisen for a promising method.
Beautiful images can be obtained by dipping light-sensitive materials into various processing solutions. However, since the labor cost is presently high it is preferable to automatically perform these processing steps, and an automatic processor is in many instances used in these steps. For this purpose, a jigenki free from a magnetic reading loss is required.
Unfortunately, the magnetic characteristics of light-sensitive materials having a magnetic recording layer deteriorate when these materials are processed with high-pH color developers.